The non-profit recently awarded $3,500 to Badin High School’s Art Studio for Art & Sole, a student-initiated project that came about when students volunteered in local food pantries and a women’s shelter, where they observed that many being served needed shoes.
Students found 50 people that needed shoes, then raised money and purchased Nike athletic shoes for $29 a pair. Then the students interviewed potential recipients and used the background information obtained used to make each person a specially-designed pair of shoes .
The students will use the grant money to grow the program further to serve the residents of One Way Farm Children’s Home in Fairfield.
Diane Ruder, president of the Fairfield Community Foundation, said she was impressed that the students identified a problem, devised a solution and got involved in people’s lives in need.
“It wasn’t just a cursory thing where they said ‘These people have a need. Let’s raise money and give it to them.’ They actually became involved in knowing about the people and their interests and backgrounds,” Ruder said. “They came up with a proposal, I think, that really reflects their heart for service and their love of community.”
“This has expanded the world for both those people who needed shoes, as well as those students who responded to that need,” she said.
Fairfield YMCA received $1,500 for its Joe Nuxhall Miracle League Youth baseball program that promotes and encourages participation of special needs baseball players and community volunteers. The program is a collaborative effort between the Y, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medica Center, the Miracle League and ABC Pediatric Therapy.
It is also the first youth Miracle League in the nation to have licensed professionals on-site during the program.
The program, which typically impacts about 200 special needs youth and hundreds of volunteers, strives to enhance communication, physical strength and stamina and character, Ruder said.
Eleven organizations applied for the grant money and, after the tough task of narrowing the field to Badin’s Art & Sole project and the YMCA, guests at the foundation’s annual dinner in October voted via text message to select the top grant winner, she said.
The technology behind that effort was organized by the United Way, Ruder said.
“It was a really good community celebration, I think,” she said. “I am so pleased that both presentations were outstanding and they’re such wonderful projects, both of them. I don’t think we could have ever asked for better projects.”
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